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One-room magic: UFS' immersive classrooms redefine learning

29 August 2025 | Story Igno van Niekerk | Photo Stephen Collett

The university is transforming education across its Bloemfontein, Qwaqwa, and South campuses with its pioneering one-room spaces, mirrored across all three locations to deliver cutting-edge, immersive learning. Research for these innovative spaces began in 2023, sparked by a photo from the University of Leuven in Belgium, which the university identified as showcasing Leuven’s advanced classroom setup. Prof Philippe Burger, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, leveraging a connection there, led a team to explore this technology globally, collaborating with Canada’s X2O OneRoom to make the UFS the first in South Africa – and one of (as far as we know) two in Africa, alongside Kenya – to offer such immersive classrooms.

Unlike Zoom or Blackboard, where online students were often overlooked as small icons, one-room spaces ensure that everyone feels included. Designed for postgraduate training and PhD interactions, these rooms accommodate up to 40 in-person and 40 online participants, with large video camera feeds on screens, reminiscent of the TV programme Small Talk, where children’s faces lined the wall for engagement. Directional audio and personal cameras create a sensory experience, with sound coming from the speaker’s direction and eye contact feeling natural. Angelique Carson-Porter from the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics shared her excitement about a postgraduate session led by Prof Aletta Olivier, Lecturer in the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies: “It feels like you’re right there, even from Pretoria or Ghana. You see everyone, interact, and never miss a beat.”

Gavin Coetzer at ICT Services, a key project leader, highlighted how lecturers struggled with older platforms’ limitations, often only addressing online questions at the end, disrupting the flow. The UFS’ one-room spaces, implemented in the UFS Business School, the Clinical Skills Unit, South Campus teacher training, and Qwaqwa, solve this with breakout sessions and global conference support. While other universities rely on Teams, the UFS’ user-friendly tech, with around 24 screens and ceiling microphones, allows lecturers to focus on teaching.

Staying ahead of tech trends is challenging, but the university is excelling, making education inclusive, engaging, and truly global.

News Archive

Little change in load shedding schedules

2015-07-25

According to Anton Calitz, Electrical Engineer at the University of the Free State, there are few or no changes to the load shedding schedules for the rest of July 2015; daily power cuts by Eskom are a given.

To stay up to date with the latest load shedding schedules, visit GridWatch’s webpage at http://loadshedding.news24.com.

Once classes have started again, lecturers should plan as if load shedding is a given. Venues without emergency power supply should not be reserved during scheduled load shedding.

The university is working hard to equip venues with emergency power. Check the list of venues already equipped with emergency power.

The following tips may help to manage load shedding in the classroom:

For your lectures: Carry a laptop with your slides (or have hard copies). In this way, you can teach students, even if you cannot project your slides.
In the event of load shedding, in venues equipped with emergency power, you will be able to continue with classes. All electronic equipment, except for air conditioners, will switch to emergency power, and there should be no problems ? lectures should be continued as normal.
If emergency power is not available in an academic venue, and the lecturer is unable to continue without electronic equipment, he/she may dismiss the class.

Please contact the office of the Student Academic Services on +27(0)51 401 7345 to reserve a venue for an ad hoc class. The helpline for academic venues from Monday to Friday between 07:45 and 16:30 is +27(0)51 401 7911. Protection Services can be contacted on +27(0)51 401 2911 for after-hours assistance.

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